


The Possibility of Love

by mamacyno



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Season 2 Deleted Scenes, almost kisses, lyatt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 05:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14784380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamacyno/pseuds/mamacyno
Summary: “You’re in love with Lucy.  Just admit it.”Wyatt hears Rufus say the words, but his mind immediately rejects the suggestion.  This mission wasn’t about saving a woman he loved, it was about saving their teammate.  So, sure, saving the world sucks sometimes, but that’s the job.  And to do that job, they need their historian.Recap of the Lyatt events from 2x01 and 2x02 from Wyatt's perspective.  Inspired by the deleted scene released by the Timeless Writers Room.





	The Possibility of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Includes author's own imagined "deleted scene" at the end. 
> 
> (I would bet good money that it actually exists given how much the writers ship Lyatt.)
> 
> Disclaimer: Timeless characters own my shipper heart, but I have no claim to them.

 

_“You’re in love with Lucy.  Just admit it.”_

Wyatt hears Rufus say the words, but his mind immediately rejects the suggestion.  This mission wasn’t about saving a woman he loved, it was about saving their teammate.  So, sure, saving the world sucks sometimes, but that’s the job.  And to do that job, they need their historian.  Still, his friend didn’t voluntary enlist for this life like he did, and he is genuinely sympathetic to Rufus’ situation.

“I’ll admit the road sucks,” he offers not wanting Rufus to dwell any longer on everything that was going wrong back in the present.  _The mission isn’t over, yet, my friend.  We need to stay focused._

Hours later when they finally locate the Mothership, they stop in their tracks when they realize that Lucy, Emma and her mother are already there.  They quickly find cover behind some bushes and watch the three women heading toward the ship with a man on a gurney.

“Damn it,” Wyatt curses under his breath.  “There goes the plan of blowing it up.”  He studies the area between their hiding spot and the ship, calculating the best tactical options to spring his attack.  He suspects that only Emma is armed, but without knowing how much of a Rittenhouse true believer Lucy’s mother is, he doesn’t want to take any chances.

“Wyatt, look!” Rufus whispers nudging Wyatt hard.

Suddenly alert, Wyatt looks up.  His heart skips a beat when he sees Lucy standing between the muzzle of Emma’s gun and two nurses behind her.  _What the hell is she doing?_ he asks himself immediately rushing from his hiding spot toward the scene.

Out of fear that taking a shot at Emma would result in Lucy or the nurses getting hit in the cross fire, Wyatt fights his soldier instincts and instead goes for the hostage option.  Aiming his gun at the injured soldier’s head, he calls out to Emma, “I can.”

It takes everything in Wyatt’s body to keep calm when Emma grabs Lucy and points the gun at her head.  _Please be a good mother and tell Emma to let her go_ , he silently begs Carol as he doubles down on his gamble that this zombie on the gurney is more important to them than Lucy.

Wyatt finally exhales when Emma pushes Lucy toward them.  _Mission accomplished_.  He’s ready to tell the team to start backing away when Lucy begins pleading with her mother.  His heart breaks for her when Carol rejects Lucy’s entreaty to go with them, but he remains focused on getting them out of harm’s way, especially when Emma taunts her about Amy.

Wyatt follows Lucy and Rufus into the darkness regretting not going against his word and killing Emma then and there.  He only realizes later that he was afraid to, because then the secrets of what Emma meant about forever preventing Amy’s existence would die with her, and he couldn’t do that to Lucy.

 

*******

Upon their return to the present, Wyatt hangs back near the Lifeboat while Jiya and Agent Christopher help Lucy get settled in her and Jiya’s room.  He happily lets her shower first while he makes her a sandwich and cup of tea.  She didn’t say much on the walk back to the Lifeboat, but he could tell that she was thinner like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.  He could relate given that he himself had barely eaten or slept in the past six weeks.  But that was over now.  The team was back, and they would need their strength.  He can’t help but smile as he takes a bite of his own sandwich en route to his room to get ready for his shower.

He passes Lucy walking out of the bathroom.  She’s wearing sweats that are much too big for her which only further emphasizes her smaller frame.   Her damp hair leaves wet spots on her shoulders, but the hollow look on her face shows that she doesn’t care.  Wyatt immediately recognizes the numbness with which she moves.  He’s seen it a million times in his fellow soldiers who have returned from battle.  Confident that he’ll be able to get her over the hump once again, he tells her that he made her something to eat, and that it’s waiting for her in the kitchen along with a cup of hot tea.  She gives him a weak smile and appreciative nod, but she continues walking silently toward her room.

After his own shower, Wyatt dresses quickly to check on Lucy.  He heads straight to the kitchen and finds the food he left for her untouched and the tea cold.  Sighing, he picks up the mug of tea and walks to the sink to dump it out.  Rufus walks by on his way to join the others near the computer console. Not wanting the food to go to waste, he offers it to Rufus, who immediately accepts it with a muffled “thanks” after taking a huge bite of the sandwich.

Wyatt nods back at him and walks in the other direction in search of Lucy.  He finds her standing in her room looking completely lost in her surroundings.

“It’s not exactly what you were expecting to come home to, huh?” he says from the doorway.

When she tells him that she wasn’t expecting to come home at all, he immediately becomes concerned.  That’s not the reaction he expected.  Most soldiers, including prisoners of war, are relieved that their hopes of coming home have come true, and rarely do they admit that they had ever given up hope. 

He takes a seat across from her and listens to her confession to killing an innocent man that day.  He assures her, as he would a fellow soldier-in-arms that survival means making difficult choices.  She laments how she lost hope thinking that he and Rufus were dead.  In a lapse of better judgment, he asks Lucy if she’s sure that her mother wouldn’t have let Emma kill her, and through her reaction he is once again reminded that in this team he is the only true soldier.  Not only was he trained to be physically tough, but emotionally, too, and he regrets forgetting that as he watches Lucy break down before him.

Wyatt rushes to her side to comfort his teammate and friend.  Remembering how he never gave up hope that she was alive, he offers a promise that fueled him for the past six weeks.

“You haven’t lost me.”

He holds her tighter as her body shakes and heaves and tears threaten to fall down her face.  He’s willing to stay by her side all night until the tears stop and all memory of her willingness to die for their mission fades.  He is surprised to feel her hand on his neck and cheek.  The sensation makes him suddenly conscious of the feel of her forehead and hair against the other side of his face.  He hadn’t realized their faces were so close to each other.  He feels her pull her head away slightly, and he looks down to try and get a glimpse of her eyes to see what she’s thinking. 

In the time that they’ve known each other, they have developed a level of understanding.  They can communicate through their eyes and how they say each other’s names when they call out to each other in panicked moments or otherwise.  But they have not yet learned to communicate through touch, so the sensation is confusing to him.

He looks down, but he can’t see into her eyes, because they are looking at his mouth.  He takes a breath and finds himself looking at her mouth as well.  Her hand continues to rub his neck pulling him incrementally closer to her now parted lips.  Unsure that she herself is aware of what is happening, he looks up once again searching for her eyes, but they are now closed.  In the nanoseconds that follow, Wyatt questions if this is what she really wants.  He knows he wants it, but he doesn’t want to take advantage of her compromised emotional state.

Before he can give in though, the decision is made for them when Jiya appears in the doorway.  He and Lucy immediately pull apart, but he keeps his arms around her, rubbing her bicep reminding her that he won’t leave her.  They look at each other briefly before standing up to follow Jiya to rejoin the others.

A few hours later after the team finishes speculating further on Rittenhouse’s plans and just how many sleeper agents they have left scattered in history, Agent Christopher leaves for home and, Connor retreats to his room in the supply closet with a bottle that he thinks no one sees.  

Jiya and Rufus suggest watching a movie to help get their minds off of the doom and gloom talk of Rittenhouse sleeper agents changing the course of history without their knowledge.  Lucy understandably declines and retreats to her room for some rest.  Wyatt resists the urge to follow her and offers to make the popcorn while Rufus and Jiya argue over which movie to select.

Halfway through the film Wyatt begins to feel like a fifth wheel as the movie’s main characters share a passionate kiss and the two lovebirds on the loveseat beside him snuggle closer.  Wyatt stands up with an exaggerated stretch and tells the others he’s going to turn in for the night.

As he walks down the hallway toward his room, Wyatt thinks of Lucy, who hasn’t left his mind since their almost kiss. He feels his heart warm as he remembers the feel of her breath on his mouth and the anticipation of what was meant to come next. 

 _But was it really meant to happen?_ He asks himself.  He can’t deny that his feelings for Lucy are growing, but he refuses to let his mind even consider the possibility that it’s mutual.  He’s a broken human being, she’s not, or at least, she wasn’t.  His heart aches remembering how desperate Lucy became while she was held prisoner. She was practically suicidal, and he will never forgive Carol Preston for bringing her daughter to that point. 

In that moment he swears to himself that now that his mission to save Lucy was successful, his next will be to save her from following the same dark path he has gone down.  He shudders at the thought of her becoming as reckless and closed off as he is.  She’s better than that.  She deserves more than that.

He stops walking and finds himself a few feet from the doorway to Lucy’s room having walked past Rufus’ and his own while deep in thought.  He’s about to make a U-turn when he notices under her closed door that her light is still on.  Just looking in the direction of her room reminds him of what transpired earlier that day.  He lifts his hand to the left side of his neck recalling the feel of her soft skin and the smell of her hair.  He wonders if he imagined the urgency with which she pulled his face toward hers. 

 _There’s one way to find out_ , he tells himself as he walks swiftly to the door and knocks softly before opening the door louder than he intended.  He stops himself from calling out her name as soon as he sees her sleeping form lying on her cot.  He exhales a deep sigh, grateful that she’s getting some sleep which she needs as desperately as she needs food. 

He can see in the dim light that she has kicked off her covers or was perhaps too tired to pull them up over herself.  Feeling a draft in the room, he walks up to her bedside to pull her bedsheet over her body.  Seeing her sleeping peacefully fills him with calm and hope that she will soon be back to her old self.  He bends down to take a closer look at the face that he’s missed for six weeks.  He gently brushes a stray hair from her forehead and leans down to press his lips to her brow. 

This small act confirms for him that she is in fact here within his reach.  He hopes that knowing she’s just down the hallway will help him to finally get a full night’s rest himself.  But he knows that the thoughts that threaten to keep him up tonight will be visions of what would have happened between them had Jiya not walked into the room. 

Deep down he hopes he didn’t imagine the want he interpreted in her movements, but he worries what it could mean if there’s even a chance that she wants the same thing that he does. 

Rising to exit the room he remembers what Flynn read to him from Lucy’s journal back in that dusty hotel room in 1972:

_“Wyatt’s obsessed with his wife’s death.  He needs to let go, move on.”_

After failing to save Jessica last year, Wyatt began to come to terms once again with the fact that there was nothing he could do to erase the guilt he carried for causing his wife’s death.  He cursed himself for giving into false hope that having a time machine at his disposal could change that.  It took over half a decade, but he has finally reached the final stage of grief and accepts her death.  He would even go so far as to say that he’s no longer “obsessed” with it either.  Yet knowing how he failed to love and protect her the way she deserved will forever haunt him. 

But he knows he can protect Lucy – and Rufus, and for now, that’s enough.  Any possibilities of love in his future will take a backseat to making sure that Lucy is okay and able to recover from whatever hell her mother and Rittenhouse put her through.

 

*******

A few days later Wyatt sees Lucy lying on the uncomfortable sofa in the common area reading pages from the Rittenhouse manifesto they found in 1919.  With Rufus and Jiya in the hangar busily working on the Lifeboat and Agent Christopher and Connor sitting near the computer console, he decides to take a chance at getting Lucy to talk to help her get over this particular hump.

Wyatt had asked Jiya during breakfast how well Lucy seemed to be adjusting to being back and these rather unique living quarters.  She told him in confidence that she could tell that Lucy wasn’t sleeping even though she was trying hard to hide it.  Jiya explained that she is naturally a light sleeper, and every time she turned to her side, she could see her roommate lying on her back with her hands folded across her abdomen and staring at the ceiling. 

Feeling only slightly guilty for breaking this confidence, Wyatt uses the information to try to coax Lucy to tell him what happened to her while she was held prisoner.  He is hesitant to hear the full story, because he knows it will only cause the anger to rise in him, but he had made the promise to himself to help in Lucy’s recovery. 

He attempts the same counseling techniques used by all of the shrinks that talked to him upon his return from the Middle East.  He validates the concern with facts.  He reminds her that it’s the team’s worry and concern that is driving the question.   She, however, is not on board with this plan, and she reacts the same way that he did once upon a time.  She dismisses the subject, stands up and walks away. 

 _That’s our stubborn professor_ , he remarks to himself, but before he can follow her, the Mothership alarm blares throughout the bunker.

A few minutes later when she suggests going to Flynn for help with finding out what Rittenhouse is doing in 1955 South Carolina, Wyatt becomes convinced that she is still courting danger.  Eventually everyone accepts the fact that she’s right, because she is.  There are no better ideas available to them, and Wyatt can’t help but to admire her resolve in convincing them.  _And there’s our bossy know-it-all_ , he thinks feeling slightly relieved to see some signs of the Lucy he thought they lost.

*******

When they arrive at the race track in Darlington, Wyatt can’t contain his excitement.  He knows his fanboying is distracting them from the mission, but he honestly can’t help himself.  He also doesn’t miss the humorous reaction in Lucy’s face while she watches him gush and fawn over the cars.  If this temporary break from being the mission-focused soldier brings that smile he misses back to her face, it’s completely worth it. 

This is by far Wyatt’s favorite mission.  Finally, they have travelled to a time and place where he gets a chance to meet his childhood heroes not to mention walk among a sea of genuine stock cars.  He even gets to impress Rufus and Lucy for once with his history knowledge.  _So, this is what it feels like to be the brains on a mission_ , he chuckles to himself.  But it’s not just NASCAR history that he shares with the team, but inadvertently his own personal history.  First about his misspent youth as a teenage bootlegger and then the story of his tumultuous past with his father. 

With the exception of the time he told Lucy about his Grandpa Sherwin, Wyatt never voluntarily talks about his past.  It’s not that he’s trying to keep secrets from anyone, it’s more that he believes personal stories like those have a time and a place.  He knows why he opened up to Lucy about his grandfather, but he’s not exactly sure why he felt compelled to tell Wendell about his past.  Perhaps it was a tactical move to build a rapport with their new ally, but he’s sure it was more than that.  After years of trying and failing to prove to his father that he was worthy of his love, Wyatt had begun to look back on those years learning how to fix cars as a waste of time and effort.  To finally have someone appreciate and admire his skills was like finally hearing his old man say the “Good job, son” that he longed to hear as a kid.  

Hiding in the cramped trunk of a bootlegger’s car, however, wasn’t exactly what he had in mind as his reward for fixing Old Rusty.  But at least they were heading in the right direction to finish their mission.

Wyatt’s protective instincts piqued again when he noticed Lucy’s uneven breathing, but that didn’t stop him from teasing her a bit to try to get her to relax and loosen up. Recalling how his embrace seemed to comfort her before, Wyatt offers to let her hold on to him again.  There is no hidden agenda in his offer, but as he breathes in the smell of her shampoo once again and feels her warm skin on his neck, it takes effort on his part to keep his own breathing even.

“Is all that stuff you said about your dad true?” she asks.

Wyatt tries to beg off the question with a silent exhalation.  As Lucy continues talking, he quickly realizes she’s not asking him for more details, but rather seeking advice for how to deal with her own parental issues.  Knowing how his relationship with his dad affected nearly every decision he made for years, he feels compelled to be open and honest with Lucy in hopes to spare her the pain that he endured alone. 

He tells her that pretending that he didn’t love and admire him was futile, because it wasn’t true.  A child will always love their parent even if the parent doesn’t love them in return or does something unforgiving like hit them or kidnap them.  He tells her that it’s natural to blame yourself for the lack of love you receive in return.  But the most important thing he tells her is that once you know for sure that you’re not to blame, it’s okay to move on.  “Nothing ahead but the open road.”

They feel the car slow to a stop signaling that they have arrived back at the track, and it’s critical that they remain quiet and still.  As they lay there still holding each other even though there are no more potholes and bumps in the road, Wyatt focuses on the conversation happening on the other side of the metal chassis.  His mind wanders slightly as he admires Lucy’s strength and resilience in the aftermath of being kidnapped by her mother.  It took him decades to get over his father, and here less than two months later, Lucy is showing signs that she is able to begin to move forward and leave her past in the past.

 _I could learn something from her_ , he tells himself as his words about the “open road” echo inside his mind.  _Maybe there’s an open road ahead of me, too. Ahead of us even._  

He is literally shaken from this thought as Old Rusty lurches forward, and he rolls atop of Lucy.  With the tension of being discovered gone, they both laugh heartily. As their bodies still, he feels a familiar pull on his neck.  It’s not as firm as the last time, but rather a gentle, coaxing pull as if offering him the option to resist without hurting her feelings.  The thought of pulling back never crosses as his mind as he instead turns toward her so that he can look into her eyes.  This time he wants to be sure that this is what she wants, he needs to be sure, because if he wasn’t expecting the car to lurch just seconds ago, he definitely wasn’t expecting this.

Lucy moves her hand to gently caress his cheek.  She returns his gaze confirming the silent wish in his heart.  Assured that this is what they both want, he leans in, and their lips part. 

And then they are both blinded as light streams into their private sanctum.

 

*******

Back in the present, Lucy walks into the kitchen area running her fingers through her still damp hair.  She finds Wyatt sitting at a table staring at a laptop screen with his back turned to her.  She clears her throat as she approaches and sees that he is scrolling through a Wikipedia page about Wendell Scott.

“Shower should be free shortly,” she tells him.  “I think Rufus is just changing his bandage.”

“Mmmhmm,” he mumbles.

“What’s wrong?” she asks taking a seat in the chair beside him.

“Nothing,” he says looking up at her pushing the laptop toward the middle of the table.  “I just hoped that history might have changed for the better for Wendell after we left.”

“I’m sorry,” she offers.  “I’m afraid it will take more than one NASCAR racer to change hearts and minds in the south in the 1950s.”

Wyatt nods leaning back in his chair with a frustrated expression on his face.  He puts his hands on the edge of the table top to push his chair out so he can head to the showers. Before he can stand, however, Lucy places her hand over his.

“Wyatt?”

He sits back down turning his hand so that he can enclose hers in his.  He looks at her but doesn’t say a word.

She glances down at their hands, and he can see a faint blush rise to her perfect cheeks.  He uses his free hand to place his fingers under her chin and tip her face up to look into his eyes.

“What is it, Lucy?”

She smiles and nervously tucks her hair behind her ear with her own free hand.  “It’s just that we’ve had a couple of – umm – close encounters, if you will,” she begins, “and I couldn’t help but notice that you seemed – umm -- hesitant.”

Wyatt returns her smile and with his hand still under her chin, he leans toward her.  “I just want to be sure that this is what you really want,” he whispers to her.

She gives an almost imperceptible nod in reply and meets his lips with hers.

The feel of her lips on his is more liberating than he had anticipated.  It’s as if suddenly all of his doubts that he could love again and fears that he was worthy of love from someone as perfect as Lucy Preston dissipates in the air around them.

As Wyatt moves his hand to reposition it so he can pull her closer to him, the door alarm sounds triggering an immediate reaction for them to separate without a single body part touching any longer. 

They both listen closely as they hear Connor and Agent Christopher’s voices approach from the entrance.  Recognizing that they are about to be rudely interrupted yet again, they exchange frustrated smiles once more and burst out laughing.

“One day,” he promises.

“One day,” she agrees.

 

**Author's Note:**

> And this is what happens when you're still waiting for news on Timeless being renewed.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
